Ask The Biologist

Got Milk?

By Bob Humphrey

It’s not as strange as you think that does nurse fawns into hunting season.

QUESTION: I was bowhunting last October when a doe and fawn came by my stand. I was about to shoot the doe when the fawn came up, and I swear it started to nurse. Isn’t this late in the season? What would the fawn’s chances of survival be if I shot the doe?

ANSWER: Like humans, every deer is different. The further into fall you go, the less a fawn will nurse and the less its mother will let it. Still, there’s a great degree of variability between doe/fawn pairs as to when nursing ceases. In fact, wildlife managers often look for the presence of milk in hunter-killed does as evidence that she has or had a fawn. This helps provide an index to productivity levels within the herd.

Bob Humphrey is the Biology & Deer Behavior field editor for Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine and holds similar titles with other major hunting publications. He currently lives in Maine with his wife and two children.Click here to email your questions to “Ask the Biologist.”